


Murphy's Law & Order

by Copper_Viper



Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson, Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Attempted Murder, Gen, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Murder
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-30
Updated: 2018-01-08
Packaged: 2019-02-24 06:41:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13208142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Copper_Viper/pseuds/Copper_Viper





	1. Chapter 1

            Rafael Barba had a set morning routine.

            Pick up coffee.

            Go to the office.

            Get any necessary paperwork before either heading to court or to the precinct, or stay in his office to work on paperwork.

            There wasn’t a time in recent memory he could recall that pattern having been broken, and he liked the structure of it all.

            Things that were predictable were good. It was one way of keeping grounded when his work was anything but predictable.

            The last thing he expected was to have his morning routine interrupted by a man he was friends with, sitting outside his office, looking beyond distraught and disheveled beyond belief.

            “You look like a million bucks,” he commented, trying to keep his sudden annoyance at his morning being shaken up under wraps.

            “I’m not here for your humor, Barba. I’m here about my son. He’s dead.”

            “I am so sorry to hear that.” But it wasn’t said with much conviction. Barba was confused, if anything. The only time Larry ever came to him at his office was when he needed something. Personal life was kept for when they went to bars to catch up. He handled cases for victims of sexual assault. He didn’t deal in homicide, and most of the time, he dealt with live bodies.

            Not dead ones.

            “Look, Larry, I’m not sure-“

            “You said those detectives, the SVU ones, they were the best of the best. If you could maybe get them to look into this…?”

            “Larry,” he said sternly, perhaps harsher than he was intending, “SVU deal with sexual assault victims. Not homicide.”

            Larry regarded him with pleading eyes. “I just want the best to be in on this case, and he was my son. He took his own life, Rafael. Does that mean anything to you?”

            Barba breathed in deeply upon hearing it was a suicide.

            Out of all the ways his morning could have gone, this is the last way he expected it to go.

            He pinched the bridge of his nose before saying Larry, “I’ll see what I can do.”

 

* * *

 

 

            Olivia Benson was enjoying her morning. For once, all of her detectives were in to work on time, there had been no major cases for the past week, and Carisi had brought in breakfast for everyone.

            She wasn’t surprised when Barba walked through the doors into the squad room, but she did look curiously at the man following behind him.

            Why did he look familiar?

            Barba walked up to the squad with confidence, stopping just behind Carisi. “Everyone, this is Larry Mur-“

            “Oh yeah, the lawyer from the Onessimo case. We still hate you for that.” Fin was blunt and to the point. Larry looked even more uncomfortable than he already was

            That’s where she recognized him from. A high profile case involving a custody battle that got beyond nasty. The Italian mafia was involved at one point; many people had ended up dead.

            “Fin, don’t be rude,” said Amanda, turning to glare at him.

            Fin merely shrugged his shoulders before turning back to his desk, clearly not at all interested with what was going on.

            Carisi, however, kept it going. “Yeah, isn’t Onessimo the guy we’re trying to get on sexual assault? Would have been far happier if he had ended up in jail during your case, Murphy.”

            “I was just doing my job. I had no idea about the allegations at the time, and you know it was his wife that was the guilty one in that case!”

            Barba finally stepped up, seeing this was already spiraling out of control. “Guys, he just lost his son to suicide. Maybe be a little kinder?”

            “If it’s suicide, why are you bringing it here? Last I checked, suicide without any sexual assault attached to it was not SVU’s issue,” supplied Fin, suddenly taking interest in the conversation.  

            “Barba’s had nothing but praises for you guys. And I… I wanted closure. This is the only way I know how. Look into it, please?”

            Liv looked at him, reading him. He was clearly in distress. A far different picture than when he had been defending Onessimo, and she couldn’t help but feel sorry for the man.

            “We’ll take it. Off the record, of course.”

 


	2. Chapter 2

            If anyone had told Evan Hansen that school that day had gone well for him, he would have laughed nervously and scuttled off somewhere to try and forget what had happened.

            It had not gone well.

            At all.

            The kid who signed his cast, Connor? Killed himself.

            The letter for therapy Connor had taken from the computer lab?

            Found on his body when his parents found him.

            And the fact Connor’s parents had assumed it was a suicide note, and had gone to the school to talk to Evan, Connor’s supposed friend?

            He ran a hand through his short brown hair, trying to focus on something other than his anxiety.

            Evan reached into his backpack, pulling out a few pieces of paper.

            The syllabi for his classes. It couldn’t hurt to go over them again in agonizing detail to remember what was required for each class-

            A knock at the door.

            He whipped his head towards the door.

            No one ever had reason to visit the apartment he shared with his mom. Neither of them had enough friends for that.

            “Evan Hansen? This is Lieutenant Benson and Sergeant Tutuola from the NYPD. Can we come in?”

             His heart skipped many beats.

            _What if they’re here because they know Connor’s suicide note was actually my therapy letter and, and…_

He found himself walking towards the door.

            _Or what if they’re actually part of a scam and they’re not actually cops?_

            He looked through the peephole.

            “Hey kid, you in there?” He assumed that was Sergeant Tutuola.

            “Yeah, I’m. I’m in here.”

            He opened the door. The woman, Lieutenant Benson, flashed a badge at him.

            It looked real enough.

            The pair of cops looked at him expectantly.

            He ran his hand through his hair again before quickly wiping it on his shirt.

            “Come in?” He asked, stepping aside.

            The pair strode in, and he couldn’t help but notice how Sergeant Tutuola looked over the apartment like he was hiding something.

            Not that there was much to hide. A small living room and an adjoining kitchen were sparsely furnished, and there was little in the way of decoration. Both cops stopped short of the couch, where Evan walked over to meet them after closing the door.

            Lieutenant Benson turned to him. “So Evan, we’re here about Connor Murphy.”

            He could feel his heart rate pick up, and his hands were shaking slightly.

            Sergeant Tutuola noticed this. “Evan, it’s okay. We were sent here by Larry Murphy, Connor’s father. You know him?”

            Evan managed to nod out a quick yes.

            He was scared. There was no logical reason cops should have been there to inquire about a suicide in which he had nothing to do with. And they both just stood there, both taller than him. He suddenly felt very small, and very alone.

            His eyes darted between the two of them.

            “Evan.”

            His eyes snapped to Lieutenant Benson.

            “If it makes you feel more comfortable, you can call me Olivia, and the sergeant Fin. Okay?”

            He relaxed enough to stammer out, “Do you want to sit down?”

            Without saying another word, the pair awkwardly got on the couch.

            The fact they were now below eye level didn’t ease his anxiety any more.

            “Can I um, get you something to drink?”

            The blood was pounding in his ears. Each second that passed was far more awkward than the last.

            “No, we just want to ask some questions,” said Fin, a slight hint of annoyance in his voice.

            Evan’s face dropped.

            “Hey, Evan,” Olivia spoke softly. It was calming, in a way. He focused on her voice, not meeting her gaze, instead looking past her.

            “Mr. Murphy told us your name was in the note they found on Connor. And we want to know why that is.”      

            He stopped breathing, only remembering to once his heart started skipping.

            “He um, well you see, I ah-“

            Fin interrupted him by pointing to his cast. “Clearly you knew him, that’s his name on your arm, isn’t it?”

            Evan glanced down. In worrying over the cops being there, he had completely forgotten about his cast, and the CONNOR scrawled across it in large, loopy letters on it.

            He gulped. “Yes, ah, he and I, we. We were. Friends. Yeah, friends.”

            _What have I done._

            “Okay so, did he tell you that he was planning this, or…?” Olivia left the question opened, and he had to think. Fast.

            “No, he, um, in his emails. That he was getting, you know. Better.”

            Olivia nodded, looking at Fin.

            “Thank you, Evan. That’s all that we needed to know.”

            The pair got up and left, leaving Evan to stand in the middle of the living room, silently cursing himself out for what he had done.

 

* * *

 

 

            Zoe paced in her room, back and forth, back and forth, only catching snippets of the conversation happening downstairs.

            Detectives Rollins and Carisi had shown up at the house not fifteen minutes before, and were both in a heated discussion with her parents. She knew they were talking about Connor, and her dad was the one who probably got the cops there, considering he was a lawyer and had connections.

            She stopped short, looking at her face in the mirror. She studied her expression.

            _He committed suicide. There’s no reason to get the cops involved over that. He wanted to die._

            She turned, once again walking to the other end of the room.

            _“I want to know why he killed himself, Larry!”_

            Zoe sighed. Her mother was yelling at her dad, and the cops were there to witness it.

            _There was no reason to it mom, other than that he had a fuck ton of unsolved issues that you did nothing to help him with!_

            She found herself raising her fist, about to hit the wall, worked up over the situation, at the stupidity of her parents, when she was interrupted by a light knocking on her doorframe.

            “Zoe, Detective Rollins. You can call me Amanda.”

            Zoe turned, looking at the woman. “I know who you are.” It came out harsher than she intended.

            “Do you mind if I sit?” asked the detective, indicating the chair by the desk.

            “Sure, go ahead. What are you even doing here, anyway? My brother killed himself. It’s as simple as that. No reason for the cops to get involved.”

            Amanda regarded her for a moment before answering. “Your dad, he wants to find out why.”

            Zoe snorted at that, as though she found the idea funny. “My dad, wanting to know why Connor killed himself? He was part of the issue, and so was my mom. They did nothing for him. They tried to help, and it failed. So if you ask me, coming here was a big waste of time on your part.”

            “Zoe, look, your dad’s pretty shaken up over this, and he just wants answers.”

            “You already said that. And if he wants answers, he should have asked Connor when he was still here. He noticed the scars, he noticed the bruising, the nights Connor didn’t come home, and he did nothing.” Zoe turned away from the detective, whispering, “And if he noticed more, he’d see what Connor did to me.”

            Amanda tilted her head at that. “What did he do to you?”

            Zoe whipped around, glaring at the detective. “Do you want to know how many times he’d slam against my door, screaming he was going to kill me because of some stupid little thing I did that set him off? How many times he’d break things around me? He left mental scars and bruises, not physical ones.”

            The detective could see tears starting to well up in Zoe’s eyes. She got up to leave.

            “If you ask me, it’s better that he’s dead.”

 

* * *

 

 

            A few days later, Larry found himself sitting in the office of Lieutenant Benson. Barba was at his side, and the lieutenant looked grim.

            “I’m sorry Larry, but there’s nothing conclusive we can draw from his death. Just, one thing, before you leave. Try to take better care of Zoe?”


	3. Chapter 3

            February was never a dull nor dreary month in SVU. There also seemed to be a slight uptick in crime around Valentine’s Day, and no one in the squad was looking forward to that.

            It was near the end of the day when Barba walked into Olivia’s office, making himself right at home on one of the many chairs.

            “Long day?” he asked.

            “Actually no. Haven’t hit that February crime spree yet. Was just working on paperwork.”

            Barba smirked. “Ah yes, the bane of anyone in any position.”

            Olivia finished writing on the paper, then put it in the stack with the others. “So what brings you here?”

            “Just checking in, seeing if you’ve found anything else with The Connor Project?”

            Her face dropped. The Connor Project had been a source of interest to her ever since telling Larry they could find no cause for his son’s suicide.

            What they had gotten from Evan and Zoe had painted two wildly different pictures of Connor, and it seemed as though Zoe had been snagged into this lie as well.

            “From today’s video it seems that Connor was the sort of person who loved to go with Evan to this orchard all the time, so they’re trying to raise money to buy it back or something, but from one of the emails posted a few months ago it was said that Connor only took Evan to the orchard once. Doesn’t any of this strike you as being overly fishy?”

            Now it was Barba’s turn for his face to drop. “I hate to say it, but whatever sort of lie Evan’s been concocting for whatever reason, it really seems to be helping out the Murphys.”

            Olivia pursed her lips, raising her head slightly. “Do you think Evan could have murdered Connor, and made it look like a suicide, and then he created this to keep his tracks covered?”

            Barba let out a smile. “Liv, you and I both know he couldn’t have done anything. You told me how he acted when you asked him about the note. And you know from experience we don’t deal with people like that who turn out to be guilty. Besides, we both saw the medical report. It was a suicide.”

            “Lewis managed to make his suicide look like a murder. Why wouldn’t someone be able to do the reverse? Make a murder look like a suicide?”

            Barba regarded Olivia for a moment before continuing. “There was no reason to bring that up, and you know what happened there. We don’t know what happened here. Sometimes… people just commit suicide, Liv. However, I don’t know of many people that would fake an entire friendship.”

            “People don’t just commit suicide, Rafael, there are reasons behind it, and-“ she was getting worked up over this, she knew that, and she let her emotions take over in that moment. “- we don’t know why Connor did it. But there has to be a reason. I’m just… I’ll talk to you about this tomorrow. You can go now.”

            Barba cocked his head, wondering at the sudden change in Olivia’s behavior. He noticed how she opened up her laptop, and the sounds of teenagers speaking about a dead kid could be heard coming from the speakers.

            He didn’t say anything as he left.

 

* * *

 

 

            They never got the chance to discuss the lie that Evan had been weaving. The February crime spree hit, and it hit hard.

            New cases were pouring in by the hour, and things were looking grim. Rape-suicides seemed to be on the forefront that month, with the department getting three unconnected ones in one week.

            The sudden spurt in cases left little time for Olivia and Barba to talk beyond business, and it wasn’t until near the end of the month that they found themselves some free time.

            Once again, in Olivia’s office, but this time with both her and Barba staring at her computer’s screen.

            The video they had been watching was paused, Larry Murphy seated between co-presidents of The Connor Project, Evan and Alana.

            “We have enough evidence to say that this whole thing is a fraud.”

            “But is it?”

            “Barba, you know the legal system better than I do, and I know it is!”

            “Liv. He told a lie. And he’s gaining nothing from it. All the money is going towards community projects and is helping other people. I hate to say this, but maybe we should just let this lie continue.”

            Olivia glared at him. “The last time we talked this over, you were almost to expose this kid. What’s holding you back now? Is it your friendship with Larry?”

            “Last time, I said this lie was helping the Murphys, and it was making them feel better about a truly terrible situation. I never said anything about stopping it.”  

            “If you don’t tell him, I’ll tell him.”

            “He’s a lawyer, He’s smart enough to have figured this out by now, that all of it’s a lie. If he wanted to expose Evan as being a liar, he would have done so already.”

            Olivia said nothing to that.

            She was closing her laptop as there was a knock at the door.           

            “Come in,” she said.

            It was Fin who walked through. “Liv, we have a problem. I know you’ve been looking into The Connor Project and all that, and well. Evan’s dead. Murdered.”

 


End file.
